Raise a Glass to Colorado Wine Country on the Western Slope

by Warren Grant

Okay, so here’s a bet for you. For 50¢, what was voted the ‘Best Wine Festival’ in the nation by USA Today? Napa or Sonoma County? Willamette Valley of Oregon? Columbia Valley in Washington State? Nope, you owe me 50¢.

The Best Wine Festival in the nation was the Colorado Mountain Winefest, held for the last 30 years in midSeptember at the gorgeous Riverbend Park in Palisade, framed tight by the Colorado River and in the heart of the fertile grape-growing region on the Western Slope of the state at around 4,500 feet of elevation.

The Colorado Mountain Winefest features wines from both sides of Colorado’s Continental Divide, the Eastern and Western Slopes, but the idyllic mile-long riverfront setting, 78° temperatures, and easy access from Denver via Interstate 70 make Palisade a perfect location to celebrate all of Colorado’s wines.

Palisade is part of the larger metro area of Grand Junction, so named because that’s where the Gunnison River merges with the Colorado. But, Palisade is also central to the Grand Valley American Viticultural Area (AVA), named one of the top 10 wine travel destinations in the world by Wine Enthusiast magazine. Warm daytime summer temperatures and cool nights result in lush grapes filled with the complex sugars that can make for fine vintages similar to those in the Bordeaux and Rhone regions in France. Bet you didn’t know that in the late 1800s, wineries in France began to graft their Cabernet Sauvignon vines and other varietals onto the strong roots of native American grapevines. It turns out a nasty microscopic louse called Phylloxera eats and kills the European roots but leaves alone the roots of American grapevines. Today, your $85 bottle of French wine may come from French grapes, but those grapes ripened wearing hundred-year-old American boots.

A great way to tour the Grand Valley AVA is to bike or drive the Palisade Fruit & Wine Byway, which winds past Colorado’s oldest vineyards, beautiful fields of lavender, bountiful orchards, and farm market fruit stands … and a lot of peaches.

It so happened that when Prohibition was enacted, most of the vineyards in the United States were uprooted, and the Grand Valley vines were some of the first to go. As a result, the winemakers switched to growing peaches, cherries, and other produce. Today, Palisade is a major peach producer thanks to predictable and vivid mountain sunlight, plus mild nights during the 182-day growing season.

The other AVA on the Western Slope is West Elks, a bit further southeast and at a slightly higher elevation, providing thriving conditions for Pinot, Riesling, Gamay, and Gewürztraminer. The West Elks Wine Trail event is held the first week of August, but it sells out fast, so book early. (westelksava.com)

An hour south of West Elks and still a little higher in elevation at 6,000 feet is the town of Montrose. If you’ve ever skied at Telluride, you probably flew into Montrose and drove south to the resort, passing on your left the newest vineyard and winery on the Western Slope, LaNoue Duboise.

The tidy, 15-acre winery is familyowned by mom, dad, and son Lee LaNoue, who went back to college at age 30 to get a degree in Viticulture and Enology to guide the company’s future.